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Memes which use copyrighted pictures or screenshots could be automatically censored (Credit: 20th Century Fox, E!, Warner Bros)

A new EU law could change the online world forever by effectively banning memes, remixes and other content which incorporates copyrighted material.

The rules are contained in Article 13 of the Copyright Directive and are controversial because they demand platforms ‘take measures to ensure the functioning of agreements concluded with rights-holders for the use of their works’, meaning that large-scale censorship would be the only way of enforcing the law.

Most of the internet’s famous memes would be affected and it would be illegal to ‘Rick Roll’, for instance, because it involves sending a clip from Rick Astley’s copyrighted pop song.

You might think this law would be impossible to police, but in fact, it could be relatively easy. All platforms like Facebook or YouTube need to do is automatically scan all uploaded content to see if it breaks copyright law or contains banned hate speech – and then pull it down.

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This could lead to the creation of a ‘computer says no’ world where people whose opinions contravene the corporate giants will find it very difficult to publish online.

Jim Killock, executive director of the UK’s Open Rights Group, told the BBC: ‘Article 13 will create a ‘Robo-copyright’ regime, where machines zap anything they identify as breaking copyright rules, despite legal bans on laws that require ‘general monitoring’ of users to protect their privacy.

‘Unfortunately, while machines can spot duplicate uploads of Beyonce songs, they can’t spot parodies, understand memes that use copyright images, or make any kind of cultural judgement about what creative people are doing. We see this all too often on YouTube already.

‘Add to that, the EU wants to apply the Robocop approach to extremism, hate speech, and anything else they think can get away with, once they put it in place for copyright. This would be disastrous.’

A vote on the new laws takes places later this month and activists are warning that the results could change the web forever.

‘Should Article 13 of the Copyright Directive proposal be adopted, it will impose widespread censorship of all the content you share online. The European Parliament is the only one that can step in and Save your Internet.’

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Article 13 relates to mandatory upload filtering which would require online platforms such as YouTube, GitHub, Instagram and eBay to install filters to prevent users from uploading copyrighted materials or seek licences to display content.

Julia Reda a Green lawmaker at the European Parliament, said the Commission’s proposal would only benefit large media companies.

‘The intentions may be good but the methods to address the issue are catastrophic and will hurt the people they want to protect,’ Reda told journalists.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said mandatory upload filters could turn out to be more harmful than beneficial.

Filters ‘could create the basis for more invasive monitoring of all internet content, while new types of exclusive rights would limit the ways that people share information on the web,’ Wales said.

Last week, Wales, World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, net neutrality expert Tim Wu and internet pioneer Vint Cerf were among a group of luminaries who wrote to Parliament President Antonio Tajani to voice concerns about the upload filter proposal.